Businesses and individuals who claim BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico cost them money have been paid more than $1 billion through the company's class-action settlement with private plaintiffs' attorneys.

A court filing Friday by BP says the federal government overestimated the size of the spill because workers captured more than 34 million gallons of crude and either burned it or shipped it to shore.

The company asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to rule that at least 810,000 barrels of oil, or around 34,130,000 gallons, were collected before entering the Gulf and can't be counted in calculating the company's Clean Water Act penalties.

A criminal settlement with the Justice Department in November didn't resolve the government's civil claims against BP.